View full sizeWood thrush are more often heard than seen, but this bird was bold at Erie Street Cemetery.Chuck Slusarczyk Jr.

It would be an overstatement to describe the past weekend as disappointing, considering I saw 19 species of warblers and a bevy of colorful and melodic songbirds. But birders in Northeast Ohio tend to have especially high expectations for May.

The spring migration continued to creep ahead, marked by fits and starts, as rain, unseasonably cool temperatures and Northeast winds made nighttime flights difficult and birding conditions uncomfortable.

Several of the area's traditional migrant traps provided ample opportunities for choice encounters, but nothing resembling an epic fallout of mixed flocks that veteran birders have come to expect this time of year.

Who could have blamed the songbirds for being mute and sluggish Sunday morning with temps in the low 40s and dark clouds scuttering overhead? But there's nothing like the bright plumages of a scarlet tanager, Baltimore oriole, indigo bunting or prothonotary warbler to lift a shivering birders' spirits.

More than a dozen hearty birders braved the elements to join the weekly Audubon Society walk at the Station Bridge trail head in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Brecksville. We were immediately rewarded by the cheery songs of yellow-throated warblers that annually nest in the sycamores that line the banks of the Cuyahoga River.

A bold white-eyed vireo emerged from a stand of brambles to check us out, and an spectacular prothonotary warbler appeared almost within reach to belt out its rich ``sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet" tune. A bald eagle posed prominently atop a dead tree near its nest in the Pinery Narrows, and red-headed woodpeckers squawked from their nesting cavities.

View full sizeOvenbirds are more plentiful this spring in Northeast Ohio.Jonathan White

Four species of swallows coursed over the river in a feeding frenzy, including barn, cliff, bank and rough-winged.

Odd-sounding insect-like ``bee-buzz" calls alerted us to the presence of blue-winged warblers at Horseshoe Pond and the Oak Hill trail head, where a gorgeous male presented a perfect picture while picking caterpillars from the pink blossoms of a crab apple tree.

The towering old-growth forest at the Deep Lock Quarry Metro Park in Peninsula held priceless views of cerulian, black-throated green and hooded warblers, plus scarlet tanagers. And Virginia rails called unseen from the reeds along the towpath at the Beaver Pond.

On Saturday, the sun failed to pierce the gloom at Headlands Beach State Park in Mentor, which only enhanced the eerily haunting songs of wood thrush and ovenbirds that echoed though the woodlands. Ovenbirds were especially abundant, easily topping 20 -- which was more than I had seen or heard all of last spring. Veeries and Swainson's thrush lurked silently in the cool, wet shadows of the understory.

View full sizeThe veery has a swirling song that sounds as if it's coming from an echo chamber.Chuck Slusarczyk Jr.

At the nearby Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve, Jerry Talkington displayed his bird-talking skills, known as ``pishing," by calling in a small flock of warblers, including Blackburnian, black-throated blue, black-throated green, American redstart, black-and-white, and Tennessee.

But the consensus bird of the day had to be an almost-overlooked olive-sided flycatcher that Jeff Wert spotted perched atop a tall snag. The uncommon northern nester is described by Pete Dunne as ``somewhat shabby looking ... a small-town politician in an old dark suit that doesn't fit anymore."

View full sizeAn olive-sided flycatcher was the best sighting Saturday at Mentor Lagoons.Jerry Talkington

At the Wake Robin trail that slices into the Mentor Marsh, Talkington kicked up American and least bitterns. Virginia and sora rails called noisily, and a Northern waterthrush sang from the shoreline.

SIGHTINGS

Ryan Eldrige discovered a golden-winged warbler in a grassy field off of Cedar Point Road in the Rocky River Reservation.

View full sizeAn adult Northern gannet was a great find by Larry Rosche at Fairport Harbor.Jonathan White

Jen Brumfield found a clay-colored sparrow at Wendy Park on Whiskey Island in Cleveland, and a fish crow in the parking lot at the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve. On Tuesday, Andy Jones found three fish crows at the nearby Gordon Park Marina boat launch.

Marian Kraus had a whip-poor-will calling outside her home in Rocky River, plus a flock of 26 pine siskins at her feeders. A flock of more than 30 siskins visited Nancy Wright's feeder in Brunswick Hills. Jerry Talkington estimated 150 siskins had descended on his feeders on the Willoughby lakefront in recent days.

View full sizeThe first wave of the magnolia warbler invasion has begun.Jonathan White

Janet Lyntz was attending a Cleveland Indians game last week at Progressive Field when she spotted an American woodcock.

Friday, May 17, at 7 p.m., at the Novak Sanctuary in Aurora, enjoy the ethereal songs of veery and wood thrush in the forest. Meet at the parking lot on the east side of Townline Road about a mile north of Ohio 82.

Saturday, May 18, choose from among three hikes at the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve: 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., and 9:30 a.m. Meet at the ODNR Cleveland Lakefront State Park building at Gordon State Park, 8701 Lake Shore Blvd. For information contact Elaine Marsh at ohgreenway@gmail.com or call 330-666-4026.

Sunday, May 19, at 7:30 a.m., join the Kirtland Bird Club on a walk along the Wetmore Trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Target species: worm-eating warbler. Dwight Chasar will lead. Meet at the Wetmore trail head. From Peninsula, take Akron-Peninsula Road, turn left onto Wetmore Road. The trail head is on the left.

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